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Cash-strapped owners want horses destroyed

Mar 29 2009 Sunday Sun

Kevin Plumber at Kayshill Animal Sanctuary

CASH-strapped horse owners unable to care for them during the economic downturn are being told to have the animals put down.

A North East animal sanctuary has seen a four-fold increase in the number of people contacting them for help and is advising many that the best possible option is for the horses to be destroyed.

Kevin Plummer, 45, chairman of Kays Hill Animal Sanctuary in West Auckland, County Durham, is receiving around four calls a week from people unable to look after their horses. Two years ago he got an average of one such call a month.

He said: “It’s reached the point where we are turning people away.”

The sanctuary tries its best to find homes for unwanted horses but this is not always possible and volunteers are often faced with abusive calls from desperate owners.

“Sometimes callers get really awkward,” said Kevin, whose charges include a one-eyed Shetland pony called Violet.

“You tell them you are full but they can get quite nasty, swearing if you can’t help them. You need to be a social worker in this job.”

The sheer volume of calls is putting Kays Hill in a difficult position because it has a strict no-kill policy.

But Kevin explains: “Sometimes, if no one else can take the horses, we have to tell people that it’s better to have them put to sleep humanely.”

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